Product Guides

The fashion industry is the second biggest polluter in the world. Major brands are exploiting garment workers and harming the environment in the production of shoes and clothing. However, there has been a rise in sustainable fashion brands, making everything from sportswear to underwear who are putting people and the planet before profit.

Product Guides

As food & drink prices continue to rise across the world, it is often the producers and workers who are losing out to big corporations. We shine a light on the food sovereignty movement pushing for a fairer food system that supports local business and we comment on the rise of veganism.

Product Guides

Many of the issues from our homes & garden are often hidden from the consumer, from toxic chemicals in our cleaning products to pesticides in our garden. We look at the greenest way to wash, clean and cook and how to recycle your old appliances.

The mainstream banking & insurance industries continue to invest in shady investments such as fossil fuels and nuclear weapons. However, a growing number of ethical alternatives makes it easier than ever to switch to a sustainable bank account or pick an insurance company with an ethical policy.

We look at shops or online platforms that sell a range of products, and how they tend to dominate the market by implementing a profit-first business model and by having a lacklustre approach to ethical practice. We also celebrate ethical companies offering an alternative, from online retailers to sustainable fashion brands.

Product Guides

The tech sector is plagued by reports of tax avoidance, corporate lobbying and the use of conflict minerals. We look at the brands proving that technology can be made ethically, from Fairphone to Green ISP.

Product Guides

Are you a lover of the outdoors? Unfortunately the companies that provide your outdoor gear & transport are often harming the environment; from car companies cheating emission tests to outdoor gear companies using toxic chemicals that damage the environment. We provide practical information for consumers on how to keep your ethics while you travel.

Product Guides

Our Mission

Mission Statement

Ethical Consumer's primary goal is making global businesses more sustainable through consumer pressure.

Below we list the five key elements of this mission.

1. Helping you to challenge corporate power

It is becoming widely accepted that the global economic system should be able to pursue ethical as well as financial goals. In a world where people feel politically disempowered, and where governments are becoming less powerful than corporations, citizens are beginning to realise that their economic vote may have as much influence as their political vote.

This is true for both individuals and institutions such as clubs, societies, companies and local authorities. We therefore have a team of researchers tracking corporate behaviour on a daily basis so that you have up-to-the-minute information on which to act in the marketplace.

2. Democratising the market

Ethical Consumer aims to enable you to assert your own ethical values through the market by providing information about the company groups that lie behind the brand names on a product-by-product basis. Information is presented in a way (with sliders and rating tables) that allows you to make decisions based upon your own beliefs and priorities. We do however recommend Best Buys for those who are broadly sympathetic to all the issues we cover.

3. Transparency of research

Most of the information we use comes from previously published sources - from campaign groups as well as from business directories, company reports and government data. Unlike some ethical rating projects our ranking system is fully transparent and all our data included in each product guide is available to subscribers.

We welcome feedback on each element as well as the broader aspects of our rankings.

4. Letting the companies know

We encourage people not only to buy ethically but also to let the companies know why. This is the most effective way to drive behaviour change. Subscribers to this website have a handy one-click facility to email a company with comments on their ethics - both positive and negative.

Our researchers also contact all the companies before beginning each ranking project to ask them detailed questions on your behalf about their policy and practice on ethical issues.

5. Wider political action

Ethical consumerism is not a replacement for other forms of political action. But it is an important additional way for people to exert their influence. For example, most of our product guides contain details of campaigns for changes in regulation which need your support too. We also have our own list of broader regulatory changes which we believe are necessary for a sustainable and compassionate future.